September 12, 2018

High in the Atacama Desert of Chile, a system of stone pillars and rock piles called saywas was recently found to be an ancient Inca calendar. Once thought only to mark a local Inca trail, a team of archaeologists, astronomers, historians, and researchers recently showed how the saywas work as a complicated and connected calendar to identify and predict equinoxes, solstices, and other astronomical events. The Inca trail in the Atacama Desert is part of the Qhapaq Ñan, an extensive Inca road network that stretches from southern Colombia to central Chile.

The sun peeks over the Andes Mountains at dawn, illuminating a line of ancient Inca saywas in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Credit: A. Silber, ALMA/ESO/NAOJ/NRAO

Working at 13,800 feet (4,200 meters) above sea level in the desert mountains near Taltal, a small city in northern Chile, the scientific team began visiting the saywas and taking measurements in 2017. The team included local indigenous people as well as experts from the Chilean Museum of Pre-Colombian Art, the nearby Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observatory, and the European Southern Observatory. The research was funded by BHP/Minera Escondida, a mining company with more material interests in the desert.

The scientific team began the study by documenting alignments between certain saywas and the sunrises on the March equinox and June solstice. They then began connecting saywa points with other important dates on the ancient Inca calendar. Operating much in the same way as Stonehenge in England, the saywas align with sunrises on certain dates, while also projecting shadows on the ground that lead to other stone points. The researchers also found that certain saywas align with constellations at night, further strengthening the researchers’ conclusion, published in 2018, that the network of stones served as a large calendar for Inca astronomers.

The first written accounts of the saywas were recorded during the Spanish conquest of Andean  South America in the 1500′s and 1600′s. The saywas’ remote locations in the empty desert, far from Inca cities, led the Spanish to believe that the stone piles were little more than pathway markers to help guide people through the vast, barren desert. The saywas did in fact aid in navigation, but the larger purpose of the stone markers remained unknown for centuries. In recent years, however, knowledge of the Inca has greatly expanded, and the study of ancient Quechua and Aymara (Inca languages) dictionaries led to the examination of the relationship between the saywas and the Inca astronomical system.

The ancient Inca capital of Cusco (in modern-day Peru) was surrounded by columns used to measure time, create calendars, and predict equinoxes and solstices as well as the planting and harvesting seasons. The remote saywas, however, were tucked away in the Atacama Desert. Perhaps that was merely the best view of the heavens, allowing Inca astronomers to get the most accurate measurements while Cusco was obscured by clouds and mist. Modern astronomers use the high desert for the same purpose. The sprawling ALMA observatory is only a (figurative) stone’s throw away.

April 10, 2018

Last month, in March, scientists published results of a DNA study on an ancient, mysterious, and rather alien-looking skeleton found in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Some people claimed the well-preserved skeleton, only about 6 inches (15 centimeters) long with an an elongated skull and other unusual features, was proof that aliens exist and have visited Earth. The study, however, published in the journal Genome Research, showed that the skeleton (known as Ata for Atacama) was in fact that of an infant human. The unusual skeleton is quite real, however, and the study explained the skeleton’s extraterrestrial appearance.

This mummified skeleton from the Atacama Desert in Chile had been described as “alien.” Genetic analysis showed that the skeleton was human and may have had a previously unknown bone disorder. Credit: © Emery Smith

Ata’s remains were discovered in 2003 at La Noria, an abandoned saltpeter-mining town in northern Chile. Ata eventually passed to a private collector. The tiny skeleton is remarkable in many ways. Ata has an unusual elongated, cone-shaped head and possesses only 10 pairs of ribs instead of the 12 pairs normally found in humans. The skeleton looked to be about the size of a human infant, yet the bones were remarkably well developed, more like those of a child perhaps 6 years old.

Ata’s shocking features fueled wild speculation about the skeleton’s origins. Some considered it an obvious fraud, perhaps the skeleton of a monkey that had been altered for a side show attraction. Historically, such hoaxes were created by circuses or side-shows to fool gullible patrons. Other people thought the skeleton belonged to a human child suffering from an unknown, perhaps genetic, malady. However, a few people pointed out physical similarities to reported alien visitors and suggested that the skeleton was evidence alien astronauts had visited that region of South America centuries ago.

Beginning in 2012, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California conducted studies in an attempt to solve the mystery of Ata. They initially identified the skeleton as unquestionably human. The skeleton appeared ancient, although scientists could not determine exactly how old it was. Explaining the skeleton’s size and many unusual features proved more difficult. The scientists simply had never seen a skeleton quite like this before. Only after colleagues at the University of California in San Francisco examined Ata’s genetic material was the mystery solved.

The scientists were able to extract Ata’s complete genome from the bones. A genome is the entire set of genes that control heredity in a human being. The genetic material confirmed that Ata was a female and closely related to the native peoples of Chile—thus not an alien. The scientists also found that Ata suffered from a variety of genetic mutations that created her highly unusual features. The researchers identified at least seven mutated genes that are known to cause significant skeletal malformation in humans. Some of the genes are known to cause dwarfism and scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine, as well as other, less common deformities.

The severity of the genetic mutations unfortunately meant that Ata most likely died soon after birth. Some of her mutated genes are involved in skeletal maturation, making her bones appear older than her actual age. When discovered, her remains were reportedly wrapped in a white cloth tied with a purple ribbon. Although her life was tragically short, Ata was cared for by her family and given a loving funeral.

After the genetic study was published, officials in Chile protested that the researchers had violated ethical guidelines concerning the treatment of human remains. The National Monuments Council of Chile began an investigation to determine if Ata’s remains were illegally exhumed (dug up) and exported from the country. In Chile, the government has passed laws intended to protect graves and human remains as well as other cultural items of importance to Native Americans. These laws are similar to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in the United States. NAGPRA makes it illegal to buy, sell, or transport for sale any Native American human remains or other cultural items. Chilean officials claim that American researchers violated the law by conducting the study on Ata’s remains without proper permission.